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Imagine a football team that never practices before games. Eventually,
without practice, even a great squad will start to show signs of
weakness and the losses will pile up.
A similar problem can occur in care homes, when the various employees
who make up "the team" don't spend time honing their customer
service skills through training. Just like a coach will enforce
practice regimens, long term care managers must advocate training
for all workers.
Of course, this means managers must be committed to customer service.
From where I stand, buy-in by top management is actually one of
the most important issues to tackle immediately.
Why is that? Because most of us look at education and professional
development as a burden. Mention the words "mandatory training"
to many employees and you will soon hear grumbles.
However, employees are more likely to embrace that training if
the message comes from the manager's office that the effort is a
priority. I think one of the most effective ways to emphasise this
priority is to make training mandatory for all employees - no one
gets a pass to sit out.
By including all staff in training, you send the message that everyone
is accountable for good service. There are countless ways to conduct
customer service training and plenty of ideas to explore as part
of it. Below are some broad questions to ask that I believe help
strengthen the foundation of any training program:
- What topics will the training cover? (I'll delve into some hot
spots for customer service training later in this article.)
- When will you hold the training? Don't forget to consider overnight
and weekend shifts.
- How will you set up the training room?
- What training materials do you need?
- How will you reward participants who successfully complete the
training?
- Will your training tie into existing service standards? If not,
how will you develop those service goals?
- How will you reinforce the customer service training after the
initial sessions?
A word of caution: There are plenty of opportunities to offer self-instruction,
where an individual employee undergoes training by reading manuals,
logging onto online exercises, or watching a video. Self-guided
training is a useful tool, but don't let it become a surrogate for
classroom instruction. The classroom setting allows employees to
interact with each other and discuss key issues, which enhances
new skills in a way selfinstruction can't.
Over the years, I've come up with a variety of training modules
for care homes to use. Generally, these sessions take place in a
classroom setting, where the instructor uses handouts, quizzes,
and a flip-chart to promote whatever skill is on the agenda. The
sessions last about 15 to 20 minutes. Here are five topics that
I think any long term care manager can use to create their own training
modules for employees:
- Explaining customer service. Especially for new employees, it1s
worth defining exactly what customer service is and why good service
bolsters the impressions of residents, their families, and other
visitors. During this the essential website for the long term
care sector Friday, 04 November 2005 introductory training, make
employees provide examples of good and poor customer service,
perhaps based on their own experiences outside of work. A key
point to emphasise is what I call "a moment of truth"
- in other words, when a customer receives an impression of the
care home based on an interaction with an employee. This is a
crucial point to mention during training.
- Improving telephone skills. For many customers, their first
impression stems from how an employee answers the phone. During
this exercise, show how proper phone etiquette, including how
to answer a call and put someone on hold, can create good will
early on. Prompt participants to discuss their experiences with
poor phone manners when they have called a company. Have participants
role-play good and bad calls to reinforce phone skills to the
group; the instructor may need to create an informal script for
role-players to use.
- Learning how to actively listen to customers. Truly listening
to residents, their families, and visitors is a skill steeped
with nuances. During this session, introduce the term "active
listening, which embodies a series of behaviours that improve
listening, such as making eye contact with the customer, avoiding
distractions or interruptions during the discussion, and showing
patience. Ask participants to list the qualities of a good listener
and how those traits contribute to active listening. Encourage
participants to identify pieces of their own listening style that
they could improve.
- Enhancing customer experience in the dining room. A customer's
experience during a meal is another "moment of truth".
If customers enjoy every meal, they will help set your care home
apart from the competitors. During this exercise, focus on the
details that embody a great dining experience. Ask participants
to recall their own memorable visits to restaurants and how those
experiences apply to residents who eat in the dining room. Also
prompt employees to explore why the dining experience is so important
to residents. Strive for the group to come up with two or three
steps that they can immediately take to improve service in the
dining room.
- Dressing for customer service success. How an employee looks
during working hours creates a strong impression on residents
and other customers. During this session, point out the ways appearance
can influence impressions and discuss your residence's dress code.
Ask participants for examples of good appearances and what ways
they might be able to improve their own dress style. You can make
this training session more fun by having two volunteers dress
up as frontline staff who are appropriately and inappropriately
attired.
These five training ideas are just the beginning of the issues
your facility can dig into for customer service training.
As you can see from the examples, customer service concerns extend
to all facets of the care home. Managers who recognise this can
in turn play an encouraging role in training their employees to
improve customer service.
Irving L Stackpole, RRT, MEd, is president of Stackpole & Associates
in Brookline, Massachusetts, USA, which provides consulting, training,
and strategic planning solutions to healthcare, long-term care,
and human services organisations in the U.S. and UK. He is also
author of Customer Service in Assisted Living, published by AIM:
The Society for Senior Living Professionals. For more information
about the book, or about the services on offer by Stackpole &
Associates, visit www.stackpole associates.com
This article was published in Caring
Times, September, 2005
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